15 minutes ago, FlyingAnchors said:

What if we replaced Prince Xisor (because according to canon now He's Dead- He was Savagely Oppressed in the clone wars) With Thrawn in the Shadows of the empire story line?

(Obviously the story elements would change somewhat because Thrawn loves art, not selling drugs. Also we could throw in Thrawn trilogy elements for a big "hey this is what our rebels did between ESB and ROTJ".)

Prince Xizor isn't dead. Just some of his race were in the Clone Wars and they were killed when Maul came through.

7 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Thrawn won't just use his blaster a puppy randomly . But he'd come up with a lengthy speech about why blasting the puppy in front of everyone is important. For reasons like stiffening morale, or demoralizing his opponents, or how the puppy is going grow up to kill the cat which eats the far worse rats. And he'll sound clever and wise and reasonable. But Thrawn's still going to blast the puppy.

See this is why I prefer Grand Moff Tarkin’s practical methods.

Why worry about the puppy, the cat, or the rats at all?

Pet the puppy nicely then atomize the entire planet from orbit and never worry about the rat problem again.

1 hour ago, FlyingAnchors said:

Rex is safe as well.

You're quite right, I forgot about Clone Grandpa

2 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

Prince Xizor isn't dead. Just some of his race were in the Clone Wars and they were killed when Maul came through.

You are right! I was mistaken.

Why are they dumping multiple episodes a night like leftover snowshoes in the middle of summer?

1 minute ago, patox said:

Why are they dumping multiple episodes a night like leftover snowshoes in the middle of summer?

Why are you complaining about it? Seriously though I think it's because these episodes go well together as pairs.

9 minutes ago, patox said:

Why are they dumping multiple episodes a night like leftover snowshoes in the middle of summer?

Time slots. Combined they fill a full time slot, instead of half a time slot. And then can be re aired again later, in the same order or matched up to others in the series.

(I’m going by my tenure at Sony and VH1.)

13 hours ago, eMeM said:

In Rebels we are introduced to Thrawn with a mention of one of his operations being effective yet extremely brutal to the population. Our blue friend doesn't try to deny anything, and Pryce enforces the ruthless image with her comment about acceptable casualities. He also seems pretty devoted to the Emperor.

If you had read Thrawn and actually seen the references to the Battle of Batonn and what actually happened ... Then you'll see its basically because he had to accept the "commendation" for what happened, even though it was not his fault at all and... well, its probably actually colouring his latter-experiences with Pryce...

It reinforces the fact that Thrawn gets **** done, but he doesn't go out of his way for civilian casualties.

Pryce however...

So with everyone quite geared up about Thrawn does anyone have any theories about where he's going to be during the OT?

I mean, we've all talked a lot about how there can't be more Jedi running around hence Kanan always being doomed and Ezra likely to, at least, disappear (guardian of the nexus thingy would be my guess) but isn't Thrawn just as big a plot hole now?

They've gone out of their way to show how competent he is throughout the series, which has been a nice change of pace, but it does mean the Rebels tendency to win battles by plucky plans or sheer luck is left a bit more unlikely if he's running around.

Probably unpopular opinion: I'd like an add-on series/book/comic showing the Mon Calamari joining the rebellion in which Thrawn is defeated by Admiral Ackbar. I mean, he's supposed to be the best fleet officer the Rebels ever have and yet we only see him for like ten minutes total movie screen time (I hear he's in CW too but never watched it through because good lord is it a slog) and then he gets unceremoniously blown up. He probably can't match Thrawn in terms of cunning and plots etc but a straight up fleet engagement where the Empire has underestimated the number of ships the Mon Cal have made (from their cities apparently) so Thrawn is outnumbered but still puts up a **** of a fight and nearly wins would be, I think, a cool way to go.

But I haven't read the new Thrawn book either so this may already be impossible.

If Thrawn is alive after Endor, how would you think he would react to Operation Cinder?

I do think he seems to work for the Empire as long as the Empire is becomes a useful tool to help the Chiss. So a plan to let the Empire collapse and dismantle doesn't sound like something he would be happy with.

At the same time, it could actually be that that the Empire secretly retreated to the Unknown Regions to fight there that threat that was the first reason Thrawn join the Empire all along, and the main inspiration a for Palpatine's plan. Then I would think that Thrawn would be happy to lead them there.

What happened in the Unknown Regions, nobody knows yet. Perhaps they fought whatever in the 30 years interim, and won. Then the First Order is having access to whatever resources they plundered from that threat. And Thrawn went back to the Chiss or was killed as part of this campaign.

5 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

If you had read Thrawn and actually seen the references to the Battle of Batonn and what actually happened ... Then you'll see its basically because he had to accept the "commendation" for what happened, even though it was not his fault at all and... well, its probably actually colouring his latter-experiences with Pryce...

It reinforces the fact that Thrawn gets **** done, but he doesn't go out of his way for civilian casualties.

Pryce however...

That's exactly what I mean. Thrawn book was written after the show. Thrawn in Rebels was introduced as ruthless, and then Zahn had to invent a convoluted way to contradict what has been said in the show to make Thrawn the good guy.

Just now, eMeM said:

That's exactly what I mean. Thrawn book was written after the show.

I got the impression they were written roughly simultaneously - with the "Battle of Batonn" bit being the only major part that was devised after Zahn had watched the episode.

If that is the case and Zahn invented what happened at Batonn after knowing about that line in Rebels that does kinda reinforce @eMeM 's point. It's quite easy to look at the timing of that (if that's indeed the case) and view that as Zahn being overly sentimental. I get the feeling Zahn loves Thrawn, (and he should, Thrawn's a great character) but I feel like it's a better idea to revel in how malicious Thrawn is rather than trying to endear him to us. IMO one of the best things about him is that he's calm and collected despite being a horrible person, and that's another nice contrast with other villains.

I'm curious how they'll resolve the "where is Thrawn in OT?" question. I think it might be a mistake to kill him off before the OT; I don't think he's going to die. I wonder if he'll end up as something of a political pariah. Granted, it was mostly Konstatine and Pryce who cost him everything against the Rebels but I can see him being the one to end up taking the fall for that. I don't think Palp would kill him off, but now he has the Death Star and Thrawn's plan effectively has failed (while he probably won't be defeated, it looks like Thrawn might experience a Pyrrhic victory). I could easily see Thrawn being assigned to some sort of glorified admin duty or even being sent off where the Emperor can still make use of his skills (eg, survey the Unknown Regions)* but doesn't have to deal with someone who he considers to be a failure.

Arguably, the Emperor is spiteful and petty enough that I could see him taking out losing access to the Temple on Thrawn and Pryce as well. I think the Emperor is petty enough to want to take his anger out on Thrawn but smart enough to know he shouldn't kill him or alienate him too much.

This would explain his absence in the OT reasonably without killing him off, and I think killing Thrawn off in the finale will feel a bit rushed. Also, killing Thrawn seems like a level of victory that the Rebel's aren't supposed to have yet, pre-Scarif.

*IIRC a lot of the infrastructure that the First Order uses to build up was put there by Palpatine. Maybe he sent Thrawn there to oversee the project? Seems like a good use of the skills you want to keep out of sight.

On 2/27/2018 at 11:01 PM, Sir Orrin said:

Can we talk about the guy incharge of the imperial excavation? (I can't remember or find his name.) I really liked his character, thought he was a great antagonist. It's also interesting to actually see one of palpatines acolytles on screen.

Minister Veris Hydan is a scholar of Jedi and Sith lore. Voiced by Malcolm McDowell ! ?

In earlier versions of the story, Minister Hydan was intended to be Vaneé, Darth Vader's attendant from the film Rogue One , but it was decided to make Hydan a new, separate character. You can still see their characters’ resemblance.

Awesome voice acting there!

Can we talk for a minute of how easy it is to pry into The Emperor’s communique?!

Yes I know it makes for a good story, I’m just being ornery.

@Sir Orrin I just updated his Wookieepedia page on your behalf.

I thought he sounded familiar!

4 hours ago, Azrapse said:

If Thrawn is alive after Endor, how would you think he would react to Operation Cinder?

I do think he seems to work for the Empire as long as the Empire is becomes a useful tool to help the Chiss. So a plan to let the Empire collapse and dismantle doesn't sound like something he would be happy with.

At the same time, it could actually be that that the Empire secretly retreated to the Unknown Regions to fight there that threat that was the first reason Thrawn join the Empire all along, and the main inspiration a for Palpatine's plan. Then I would think that Thrawn would be happy to lead them there.

What happened in the Unknown Regions, nobody knows yet. Perhaps they fought whatever in the 30 years interim, and won. Then the First Order is having access to whatever resources they plundered from that threat. And Thrawn went back to the Chiss or was killed as part of this campaign.

I don't believe Thrawn would have gone along with Operation Cinder. It serves no purpose other than to fuel Palpatine's ego, and I'm shocked that we don't have more stories of Imperials saying "Yeah, no thanks. The Emperor may be dead, but why should the Empire die with him?"

Based on the ending of Thrawn , my bet is our titular character simply goes back to the Chiss, or they'll kill him off in Rebels just so the show's heroes can seem competent. I would love for an adaption fo the Thrawn trilogy, but I doubt we'll ever get anything like that.

It may have been brought up on this thread before, but let’s remember, the first major Rebel victory was at Scarif.

Where does that leave Lothal?

5 minutes ago, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

It may have been brought up on this thread before, but let’s remember, the first major Rebel victory was at Scarif.

Where does that leave Lothal?

Not looking very good for the Rebels. Or Ezra.

Dave Filoni is teasing that his next project with the franchise will be announced soon.

So, no hint as to WHAT he’s working on, just an announcement of an announcement.

I guess he’s following the FFG model then.

1 hour ago, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

Dave Filoni is teasing that his next project with the franchise will be announced soon.

I assume the Resistance show will be announced relatively soon after Rebels. I would have suggested it would be announced here at Celebration but we don't have one of those this year. It would be a bit 'interesting' if they were to run a promo for the new show after the series finale, thought it might make sense it put it off until after Solo so that the film/tv focus for the next two years would be lined up around the ST era.

10 hours ago, KellenC said:

(I hear he's in CW too but never watched it through because good lord is it a slog)

Truest statement ever.

My brother and his 5-year-old son love the Clone Wars. I watched it to get perspective on things, and found it painful for almost the entire first season, and plodding for most of the rest. Granted, there is some good stuff within, but mostly it comes down to a good story-arc here and there. I livestreamed my candid and sometimes unkind reactions to the Clone Wars throughout my viewing. My brother found my assessment of the series quite humorous.

I find my enjoyment of any given episode of Clone Wars is inversely proportional to the number of prequel characters appearing in it. The ones where none of the Jedi appear are some of my favorites.

Then again, I love the Mortis trilogy, which apparently makes me insane in some circles, so what do I know?

13 minutes ago, DailyRich said:

I find my enjoyment of any given episode of Clone Wars is inversely proportional to the number of prequel characters appearing in it. The ones where none of the Jedi appear are some of my favorites.

Then again, I love the Mortis trilogy, which apparently makes me insane in some circles, so what do I know?

I liked that arc as well, so count me in as a member of the crazy-club.

My enjoyment of the Clone Wars seems inversely proportional to the screen time devoted to Battle Droids speaking.